His Storm
by hexterah
Summary: Tenel Ka, forced to take a vacation, heads to Yavin IV to spend some quiet time alone. Almost alone, as her thoughts and memories are there to keep her company.
**Notes:** I made a fanmix in November or 2009 that had two parts - each with six songs and a small story to go with each song. The first six songs/stories were if Jacen had survived after Legacy of the Force and they all cover small moments between him and Tenel Ka  & Allana. Those will all be uploaded in one piece together soon. The last six songs were more in line with what happened in the books and cover Tenel Ka alone after the LotF series. Three of those were slightly longer than the others and will have their own uploads (like this one). The other three will be in one piece together. HOPEFULLY THAT MADE SENSE. :D _Written: 11/2009_

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 **His Storm**

The Queen Mother of Hapes had taken a vacation of sorts from her duty. It had been a good solid week or two since Prince Isolder and Jacen Solo had died. A week or two since her father and her lover were killed. The Council granted her a few days to take a break and instead of relaxing on some beach or at some fancy exotic resort, Tenel Ka had taken a small entourage of one advisor and two bodyguards to Yavin IV.

They were currently back on the luxury ship they had forced her to take, which was docked in the hangar of the old Jedi Temple. She told them she would be fine out here alone. There was no danger here. Of course, it was different than how she remembered it since the Yuuzhan Vong had had their way with it, but some things were still recognizable. There was the tree Jacen had hid some of his animals in when Raynar was looking for them, the circle of stones they used to sit around on cool nights... Tenel Ka had even found an extremely faded holo of the two of them in Jacen's old quarters.

It was her second day there and she had planted herself on a small outcropping of gray rock that jutted out over a pond. They had all used to swim in the pond on hot days. Jacen and Tenel Ka used to drop any brightly colored rocks they found down to the bottom and then dive down to see who could retrieve the most in one breath.

The day before, Tenel Ka had found their stash of rocks. They had buried them next to a tree close to the pond on their last day at the Academy. She had remembered the spot exactly and dug them up, sifting through them with her fingers. There was his favorite pale green one (he always managed to find that one first underwater), and the jagged pink rock, and the slightly teal rock that he had found for her on the banks, among others. That night she had thrown them all in the pond, sniffling slightly as each one sank to the bottom and vanished from her view.

Curiously though, the second morning she had gone back out to the pond and found the rocks sitting where she had herself planted now, on the outcropping of rock that hung over the pond. She was staring at the pebbles in her hand and wondering exactly how they had returned from the bottom of the body of water. Glancing around, she heightened her senses. She couldn't hear anyone, she didn't see anyone. She didn't _feel_ anyone around her. She could faintly sense her bodyguards and her advisor back on the ship, but that was it.

As she concentrated, Tenel Ka began to feel a light rain settle over her. She only managed to break out of her trance when the rain started getting harder and a fork of lightning flashed through the leaves above her. Thunder soon followed, almost instantly, and a wind suddenly picked up that made her shield her eyes with her forearm. She closed them moments later.

Jacen used to love storms like these. She recalled it vividly: she, herself, standing under the large and low fronds of the trees watching while Jacen would sprint out to the clearings and throw his arms out to his sides, tilting his face towards the sky. The lightning would flash and light up his features for a brief moment and Tenel Ka would see that his eyes were shut and his mouth was open in a huge grin. She was always able to hear his delighted laughter too, before the thunder came. He would spin around and then try to get her to come out into the storm with him. Occasionally, she did.

She remembered how excited he would get and how he would pull her out into the clearing and wrap his arms around her (usually apologizing profusely later for being so forward) and spin them both around. One time she had even fed off of his excitement so much that she leaned forward and kissed him. He had been in a daze the rest of the day.

This was one of those storms. Jacen's storms.

When she opened her eyes, squinting again against the strong breeze, Tenel Ka swore she actually was seeing him through the rain. He was in the water ahead of her, floating on his back in the almost violent weather, his expression calm and peaceful, his eyes closed. She stared at him for a long set of heartbeats and the storm slowed, finally coming to a halt, leaving the forest in a gray, ethereal light. Tenel Ka tightened her grip on the small rocks in her hand.

She watched him open his eyes and send a ripple through the water around him as he turned his head to look up at where she crouched on the rock above him. Their gazes locked for a moment that felt like it lasted longer than it did and with that he shut his eyes again and sunk, the water completely enveloping him.

Tenel Ka reflexively screamed his name and with no solid thought of her actions beforehand, pushed her feet off of the rock and dove into the water headfirst.

She opened her eyes underwater, instantly recognizing the shape and depth of the pond, along with the little nooks along the walls. Turning her head from side to side, slowed by the liquid around her, Tenel Ka saw nothing. Just water, the packed dirt of the pond walls and the giant stones along the bottom. She heard nothing except the beating of her heart. She kept looking though, for as long as she could before her system started burning and begging for oxygen.

When she broke the surface, sucking in a lungful of forest air, she was surprised to feel a strong warmth across her face. Finally opening her eyes as she treaded water, she had to squint against the brilliant sunlight that suddenly pulsed through the trees and brush. Mere minutes before the sky had been alive with an angry storm. Thunder, lightning, heavy winds...

"Jacen..."

She stopped treading water and let herself relax, floating on her back and staring at the treetops. Her breath came back to her quickly and she shut her eyes and soaked up the warmth above her. Finally releasing her grip on the brightly colored pebbles, she let them drift to the bottom once more.

He was dead, he had passed. But she knew that he would never really leave her. They had something strong together and Tenel Ka knew that Jacen wouldn't forget that, even in death.


End file.
